and behind him, to his right and to his left, as far as the eye could see. He left Medina in the afternoon, with six days remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah, after praying four rak‘ahs of the noon prayer there. Before that, he had delivered a sermon teaching them about ihrām (ritual consecration), its obligatory duties and its recommended practices.

Ibn Hazm said (1): “He departed on Thursday.”

I say: It appears, however, that he departed on Saturday. Abū Muhammad Ibn Hazm supported his position with three premises: first, that he departed with six days remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah; second, that Dhū al-Hijjah began on Thursday; and third, that the Day of ‘Arafah fell on Friday. To support his claim that the departure took place with six days remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah, he cited the hadith of Ibn ‘Abbās reported by al-Bukhārī (2): “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, set out from Medina after combing his hair and applying oil.” He then related the hadith and said: “That was with five days remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah” (3).

Ibn Hazm said (4): “‘Umar (5) explicitly stated that the Day of ‘Arafah was Friday, which was the ninth. Thus, Dhū al-Hijjah undoubtedly began on the night preceding Thursday, and the last day of Dhū al-Qa‘dah was Wednesday. If he departed with six nights remaining in Dhū al-Qa‘dah, then his departure was on Thursday, since exactly six nights remained after it.”

The basis for the view we have adopted is that the hadith explicitly states that he departed with five days remaining, the days being